NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, left, talks with Susan Glasgow, President and CEO of Kegman, Inc., during a visit Friday to its Melbourne office. / For FLORIDA TODAY

Written by

James Dean | FLORIDA TODAY

MELBOURNE — Launch teams deciding if it’s safe for NASA’s next Mars rover to lift off from Cape Canaveral this morning will rely on critical wind speed and direction data provided by Kegman Inc.

With the Mars Science Laboratory scheduled to launch at 10:02 a.m. today, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden made time Friday to visit Melbourne-based Kegman in recognition of Small Business Saturday.

“What we’re trying to do is help people understand the importance of small businesses and the role that they play in everything we do, and you all are a perfect example of that,” Bolden said.

Kegman President and CEO Susan Glasgow started the business with her husband, Karl, as a part-time pursuit in 1999. This year, Glasgow gave up a job with a large defense contractor to devote her attention to Kegman full-time .

The nine-employee company snagged a three-year, $1 million NASA contract for the wind profiling services.

From a trailer at a 500-foot wide antenna field that resembles a small vineyard near Kennedy Space Center’s shuttle runway, Kegman technicians today will monitor winds between about 6,500 and 60,000 feet.

The launch of NASA’s $2.5-billion Mars rover is Kegman’s first under a contract that began Oct. 1.